京都工芸繊維大学 Department of Biobased Materials Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology

Plastics synthesized from petroleum oil have made our lives more convenient. Recently, however, excessive use of them led to several environmental issues such as global warming and marine plastic waste. As one of the best solutions to the global warming, it is thought to develop a social system using polymeric materials which are equal to or greater than oil-based materials and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This can be realized by using sustainable biomass instead of petroleum oil as their raw materials. Materials produced from biomass such as plants are named “Biobased materials”. Through education and research of the biobased materials, our department is dedicated to develop human resources who contribute to eco-friendly manufacturing and new material creation.

The process of plant-derived polymeric materials begins with the production of polymerizable monomers from plants using microbes [1]. Next, the monomers are polymerized by chemical reactions so that functional polymeric materials are developed [2, 3]. The monomers produced by microbes do not always have the same structure as petroleum-based ones. Therefore, development of new chemical reactions is occasionally required. In addition to the low-carbon function, they would show new functions unique to plant-derived polymeric materials. The polymeric materials synthesized can be processed into fibers, films, and molded and functional products for commercialization [4, 5]. Furthermore, the precise structures at the nano level and the correlations between structures and physical properties are characterized in order to secure and find unique functions [6].
The research areas of biobased materials are diverse, such as biology, chemistry, and material science.
We welcome all those who are interested in these areas along with resource and environmental issues.

The numbers in the parentheses indicate our labs related to the research fields: 1, Lab of System Engineering for Bio-resources; 2, Lab of Bio-based Materials Chemistry; 3, Lab. of Environmentally Benign Polymeric Materials; 4, Lab of Bio-functional Materials; 5, Lab of Bio-nanofiber; 6, Lab of Properties of Nanomaterials.